Author: staff
There’s an ominous backdrop to this year’s GLOBSEC forum in Prague as the war in Ukraine strays into the skies over NATO’s Eastern flank. The last few weeks have seen an increasing number of drone incursions in the Baltics — Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — across EU airspace. And there are questions over America’s commitment to European security ahead of an important NATO summit in Ankara in July, following changes in American troop deployments, and whether the tide is really changing in the war in Ukraine. Recording at POLITICO’s Speakeasy at the GLOBSEC Forum, Anne McElvoy sits down with two Europeans with skin in the game — Janne Kuusela, Permanent Secretary at Finland’s Ministry of Defense and Ana Brnabić, Speaker of the National Assembly in Serbia and former Prime Minister. Both…
Published on 21/05/2026 – 9:05 GMT+2•Updated 9:07 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hit out at his security minister after video footage showed him taunting detained activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla who had been attempting to transport aid to Gaza. Footage released by Israel’s National Security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir earlier this week had shown him berating detainees and waving a large Israeli flag as they were forced to kneel with their hands tied behind their backs. “Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords,” he says in the video. In a statement, Netanyahu said Israel had “every right” to stop…
Despite that, European countries still count on the U.S. to provide the ultimate guarantee of their security. “The transatlantic relation[ship], while indispensable, is changing in nature,” Czech President Petr Pavel said at the forum. But this “doesn’t mean [Europe] has to turn away from the U.S.” Pavel, himself a former NATO general, added that “NATO remains the foundation of our collective defense.” The U.S. drawdown is sending a signal to Europe, said Karel Řehk, the Czech Republic’s top general. “Europe must take over responsibility at least on conventional deterrence on itself, it’s a geopolitical reality. Let’s do our best to…
Published on 21/05/2026 – 10:20 GMT+2 US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland has said he believes it’s time the United States “puts its footprint back” on the territory. Jeff Landry, who is also the governor of Louisiana, made the comments during a trip to the Arctic island this week, his first since his appointment to the special envoy role in December 2025. Greenland has made frequent headlines since Trump’s return to the White House, with the president repeatedly arguing that Washington needs to acquire the Danish territory to boost national defence and to prevent it from falling into…
With a smaller proportion of oil and gas supplies likely to be compliant, less availability means there’s a real risk this looming crisis will affect energy affordability for households and businesses alike. Remember, these rules have nothing to do with lowering levels of methane, which the legislation does not demand until 2030, but are about adhering to measurement, reporting, certification and verification standards for which neither the European Commission nor member states have done the work to establish in time for implementation. With a smaller proportion of oil and gas supplies likely to be compliant, less availability means there’s a real risk this looming…
By Euronews Persian Published on 21/05/2026 – 11:30 GMT+2 Iran secretly executed four men — two Kurdish political activists and two Iraqi nationals — without notifying their families or granting final visits, the human rights organisation Hengaw reported, as Amnesty International said Iran carried out more executions in 2025 than any other country. Ramin Zale and Karim Maroufpour were executed at the central prison of Naqadeh. The Iranian judiciary’s official Mizan news agency said both men had been convicted of “armed uprising,” “attempted assassination” and “forming a group to disrupt national security,” and described them as members of the Kurdistan Democratic…
Serbia gained the status of an official candidate for EU entry in 2012, and opened talks on areas of alignment with the bloc, known as clusters, in 2014. Asked whether Serbia’s pro-Moscow stance is complicating its EU membership drive, she said, “It doesn’t make things easier for us, which is more than obvious, since we have not opened any new cluster in the EU integration process since December 2021.” Meanwhile, other Western Balkan countries such as Albania and Montenegro have made progress in their EU accession talks, while Serbia’s negotiations have stalled, Brnabić said. This isn’t because Serbia is not…
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been confronting critics accusing him of giving up Karabakh during the heated election campaign ahead of the elections in June. In a campagn event in Yerevan, Pashinyan grabbed a megaphone and had a heated exchange with a man from Karabakh who approached him with accusations. Pashinyan has been accusing the critics that they stand in the way of Armenia’s peaceful future and economic revival. Video showed security personnel dragging the man away before Pashinyan picked up a megaphone and shouted at him in front of the crowd. The man, identified by Armenian media as…
A historic Buddhist hall on Miyajima Island burned to the ground after a fire broke out near Mount Misen in western Japan. Aerial footage showed flames and smoke engulfing Reikado Hall before the structure was left charred and destroyed. The hall was part of the Daishoin temple complex and was known for housing an “eternal flame” believed to have been burning for more than 1,000 years. Japanese authorities said around 30 firefighters were deployed to battle the blaze, which was later extinguished.
Published on 21/05/2026 – 19:14 GMT+2•Updated 21:43 The piece itself? Just 14 rust-coloured steps, arranged in a spiral. Yet this section of staircase went under the hammer for 450,160 euros on Thursday 21 May during a sale at the Artcurial auction house. And with good reason: these 14 steps once formed part of the 1,665 that run up the Eiffel Tower. Standing 2.75 metres high, this section of the Iron Lady came from the helical staircase that linked the second and third floors of the tower when it opened in 1889. During renovation work on the monument in 1983, and…